Overview of WinFASTR 2.1

WinFASTR
is designed as an implementation of FASTR, and written in Delphi, which
takes advantage of standard Microsoft Windows tools. WinFASTR
uses the mouse, to give easy and elegant access to buttons, check
boxes, menus, scrolling lists and windows, hints, dialogs, and
standard Windows file and printer management. Version 2.1 is
compatible with Windows 2000, etc.

Each category of sheet selection, such as Docket number, or
sheet status (Effective, Proposed, Rejected, etc.) need not be
restricted to a single item. Where appropriate, (as with Docket
numbers) a list of available choices is presented, to save the
tedium and error-proneness of typing them. Note that this
requires you to choose a pipeline before selecting by docket.

GeneralFor important operations,WinFASTR provides
duplicate access mechanisms. For example, Quit can be
accomplished either by pressing a button or by accessing the
Files menu. Except where clearly inappropriate, other standard
Windows operations (like changing the sizes of windows) are
supported. Modal dialogs (from which you cannot escape) are used
only where modeless dialogs would cause logical confusion.

Current design status:WINFASTR is designed around
a main window and three "Child" windows, together with
a sheet text window and various dialog windows. The main window's
menu can be used to cascade or tile the "Child"
windows. Descriptions of these windows follow:

The Main Window:The main window initially displays
the FASTR logo, which incorporates the FERC logo. A hint reminds
you to click the mouse. This action obliterates the logo and
activates the initial selection display. It will disappear in a
few seconds in any case. Recall it using the "Show Badge"
command in the "About" menu.

Menus: In Windows, the menu on the
main window is overwritten by the child window's menu if the
currently active child window has a menu. There are therefore two
possible menus associated with the main WinFASTR window.

The main menu............

The Sheet List menu....
Two versions of the Windows menu are shown below. On the left,
the menu associated with the main window. On the right, the
sheet list window's version. Both contain items for Cascade,
Tile, Tariff Volumes, Header Info, and Sheet Text. Cascade and
Tile change the size and positions of the windows currently open
inside the main window. Tile makes them all small enough to fit
without overlaying each other. Cascade overlays all but the top
and left hand sides. These operations may be helpful in a small,
cluttered monitor screen. The resizing controls and scrollbars
will be more obvious after a tile or cascade operation. The next
three items allow you to bring the named window to the front.
Obviously, the Sheet List window doesn't need a menu item to
bring itself to the front. The buttons panel and the sheet
selectors panel are specifically part of the main window, and
may be hidden or shown as convenient.

The file menu for the sheet list window is entirely different
from the main one. The item "Display .. Sheet" is
one way to cause the text of the current line in the sheetlist
to be displayed. To export the entire list, use "Copy..to
Clipboard" and paste into the other application.
"Print" and "Print to file"
are ways to print and export the text of multiple sheets. "Quit"
ends the program. In the main menu, "Open" does
the same as the [From] button. It chooses a group of
source files, by looking for the group's primary file. "Print",
and "Send List to File" provide records of the
list of tariff volumes. "Print Form" is for
utility purposes. "Quit" ends the program.

Browse corresponds to "read
or print.." This is the usual and default mode. If you
choose it explicitly in the Windows launch icon, (see
below) the FASTR mode panel will be replaced by its
"Show/ Hide" icon.

Copy Use it to merge
or copy FASTR data for more than one pipeline.

Add New Filing Use it
to check out ASCII filings to be sent to FERC.

Scan Updates provides
information on the last activity date of the master file.

Database creates a CSV
delimited ASCII file with entries for the header information of
every sheet selected.

Verify checks for
discrepancies between the internal sheet numbering codes and
the text of the sheet name. It also detects mismatching GZIPHDR
and GZIPDBF files.

HTML is what you use
to create a linked group of HTML files containing selected
tariff information.

Test and Delete
are available only in privileged mode.

Test is used for
detecting errors in the GZPRIME(or PRIME4) and GZIPHDR(or
TARHDR) files.

Delete offers a
choice. It will either: (A) remove pipeline tariff volume
pointers from the GZPRIME or PRIME4 file. The data pointed at
will then become inaccessible; or (B) remove selected
sheets by marking their header info status "deleted"

Select Sheets:Each of the
check boxes in this panel launches a dialog
to permit you to select a subset of the tariff sheets in the
selected tariff volumes. "By Docket" applies only when
a single pipeline tariff volume has been selected. A button
labeled "Show Selectors" displays a window
with the current settings. (details)

Control
Panel Buttons:

From: Activate a file
selection dialog for the input database. You will be offered a
standard Windows file selection dialog.
When you choose the primary file, the Tariff
Volumes window will be loaded and displayed. The button
will then be disabled, to prevent inadvertent changes.

Quit: Finished. Return
to Windows.

Go: Choices made,
perform the browse, copy or scan operation.

All: Select and
highlight every line in the Tariff Volumes window.

To: Activate a file
selection dialog for the output database. This button is
visible only when Copy or Add Tariff mode is selected.

the Show/Hide button:
This is a red X with an exclamation point superimposed. Press
it to hide the control panels and make more of the "child"
windows visible. To reveal the control panels again, use
the tariffs/windows menu or click on an area of the main window
not occupied by a child. There are also individual Show/Hide
buttons for the Mode and Selection panels.

The Dockets listappears
when "by Dockets" is checked in "Select Sheets".
It applies only to the selected tariff volume. Selections of one
or more docket numbers may be made, as with the Tariff Volumes
list. A button suffices to indicate that the selection is
complete. (This is a significant aesthetic improvement upon DOS
FASTR, which is obliged to use the [End] key to indicate dialog
completion.) You may also press Go to fetch the sheets
immediately.

Child Windows are controlled by the Tile
and Cascade commands in the main window's menu.

The Tariff Volumes window: - a
child window,
provides for selection of one or more of the pipeline tariff
volumes in the input database. The standard Windows selection
operations are used, i.e. Shift-Mousedown for a block,
Ctrl-Mousedown for discontiguous additions. Action upon the
choices may be initiated either by double-clicking a line
selection or by pressing the main "Go" button.
This will load (or reload) and display the tariff sheet list
window.

The
Tariff Sheet list: - a child window,

To print multiple sheets you must
first press [Go Multi]. Then select Print from the window's
menu. You can also print to file.

Another menu item is Find. This will activate the Sheet
Search dialog. (See below) If the
sheet list refuses to respond to mouse-down, press Go Plain / Go
Fancy twice. I still don't know why this happens! It's some
Windows weirdness. If one line of the sheet list is
selected, and header information display has been requested, the
Header Information window will match the line selected.

The Tariff Sheet List window displays color codes,
corresponding to those used in DOS FASTR. The sheet status is
indicated by the style of the text. (Effective is Bold,
superseded, rejected and withdrawn are stricken-through).

Double-click any line, press the [Enter] key, or use
the Menu "Sheet" line, to display the corresponding
sheet in a Sheet Text window.

The Sheet Text Window: - not a
child window,

displays the tariff sheet's text, and has Up, Down, Font,
Print, Image, Info, and Exit buttons. It is convenient that,
when Up or Down is pressed, it becomes the default, and
therefore rapid scanning of the sheets can be done by holding
down the [Enter] key. The Image button brings up a Preview Print
display window. The Sheet Text window has a Clipboard access
feature. Shift-Drag over a portion of text, and press the "Copy
Text" button. Task switch e.g (Ctrl-Esc) to WordPerfect or
the Notepad, and Paste the result into your other document.
Better, but less obvious, is a Pop-up menu which you get with a
right mouseclick within the text area. The menu offers Copy
(selected text), Copy entire sheet, Copy sheet name, and Copy-
Tariff- Volume- Name.

The Header Information
Window:- a child window,

displays all the sheet information which corresponds to TF0x
records, or information from FERC's rulings on the filings. It
has Previous, Next, and Exit buttons. This window is displayed
when you press the [Info] button in either the sheet list or
sheet text window.

NB: The Header Information, Sheet List, and Sheet Text
windows are linked, in such a way that all three should change in
response to Up or Down button commands. This is in part the
meaning of the "Fancy" setting. If it isn't working,
try pressing the Fancy/Plain button twice.

General
The standard Windows COPY (text) command is
supported for both the Sheet List window and the individual Sheet
Text window. This command will permit copying the blocked
information from the WinFASTR Sheet List and Sheet Text windows
to any other Windows software document, such as Notepad,
WordPerfect, Quattro Pro Version 5 and up, MS Office, and
OpenOffice.org(Windows version). This menu command in the Sheet
List, and a button in the Sheet Text window, make it convenient
for (1) the creation of a list of tariff sheets for memos' and
orders' appendices, and (2) the copying of tariff text into
memos, orders and testimony, with fewer typographical and
oversight errors and in less time than by manual typing.

The
Preview Print display window: This displays, as nearly as
possible on screen, the appearance of a printout of this tariff
sheet. Unlike the Sheet Text window, it shows the rectangular
line boundary, and the heading and footing information.
The following is a reduced partial image.

The Sheet Search Dialog:This
is activated by the Find | In Text command from the Tariff Sheet
List window's menu. It is also activated by pressing ctrl-F. The
Tariff Sheet List window must be the front window. "Find"
has been substantially improved as of version 1.0.9; it accepts
a "search phrase" consisting of a sequence of words,
and searches for these regardless of white space
separating the words. White space is any number of blanks
or a new line. The program now highlights all lines containing
the desired string. Use the Sheet Text window's Stop Search
button to abandon a search, or its Find Next button (a
metamorphosis of Exit) to find the next such sheet. Once found,
a sheet can be copied to the Clipboard before exit. You can even
use the blue Up and Down buttons to examine the neighboring
sheets. The highlighting will disappear, because it uses a
Windows "object type" different from the standard text
display.

Windows command line parameters. The Windows command
line, specified when creating an icon, can be used to provide
the equivalent of many button or panel actions. Add the
following verbs and their objects as appropriate to the
WinFASTR2.exe command.

Browse is the equivalent of
selecting the Browse button.

From followed by a
Drive:\Directory specification is equivalent to pressing From
and choosing that directory in the Windows file navigator
dialog.

Copy is the equivalent of selecting the copy
button.

To followed by a Drive:\Directory
specification is equivalent to pressing To and choosing that
directory in the Windows file navigator dialog.

Replace
bypasses the "add or delete" dialog in Copy. It
specifies delete-and-replace.

Add bypasses the "add
or delete" dialog in Copy. It specifies add-and-merge.

Addfrom is equivalent to choosing "Add New
Filing" and specifying the location (directory, folder)
which contains the ASCII file.

All is equivalent to
highlighting all the tariff volumes displayed by From.

ID
followed by a list of numbers separated by commas but no spaces
will highlight all tariff volumes for the pipeline identified
by this code.

Current will select only those sheets
whose status is Effective, Suspended or Pending.

Effective
and Pending are also supported as status selectors.

Go
is equivalent to pressing the Go button. If the necessary
conditions are satisfied (e.g. input files and tariff volumes
selected) then the requested actions will proceed.

For instance, (at FERC)

WinFASTR2.exe Browse From O:\Fastr\GZip1is sufficient to launch the
familiar Tariff volumes list from the FERCWIDE LAN.

WinFASTR2.exe Copy from L:\Fastr\Zip1 to C:\Fastr Replace All Gowill cause all tariff volumes
on the OPR LAN to be copied into the FASTR directory on your C
drive, replacing the present contents if any.

WinFASTR2.exe Addfrom C:\scantarf to C:\Interim Replace All Gowill launch immediately into the Add New Tariff mode,
beginning with a dialog to select the ASCII source file from the
Scantarf folder on the C: drive.

The open files dialog:

Select a drive, then a folder, and if it contains a FASTR
database triplet of files, the primary file (PRIME4 or GZPRIME)
will be listed in "Files found". If the "Files
found" name differs from the File name above, click on it
before clicking on [OK]. Alternatively, you can type
the entire name into the File name box.

Selection Dialogs

In all of these, make a selection and press OK to
add it to the list of constraints. Press Cancel to remove
it. Press Go to select all sheets meeting these and other
conditions already set. If no tariff volumes are selected
yet, Go will be the same as OK.

I recommend the default setting here, any sheet which is
Effective or Proposed or Suspended, for ordinary
use. Sheets which are currently pending Commission decision
may easily have become effective since your copy of the database
was updated.

You can place conditions upon the range of dates for any
of the listed dates. "Updated" allows you to
select according to the date when the FASTR database actually
changed. For Superseded sheets, it will be close to the
date of the order making a subsequent sheet effective. Do
not replace an ellipsis (...) with anything but a date.
WinFASTR effectively translates it to "earliest possible"
or "latest possible", as appropriate.

This one should be obvious. The range is inclusive. Note
that "From 4" to "To 5" is an easy way
to bracket numbers like 4G, 4-G, and anything else you might be
unsure about.

The accuracy of the sheet type specification of any given
sheet is somewhat dependent upon the carefulness of the filing
company and the vigilance of the FERC analysts and other staff,
since it cannot easily be checked electronically.
Nevertheless this is usually a useful criterion of choice.
Note that the checkboxes are not mutually exclusive.

This is a display of the conditions currently in effect for the
selection of tariff sheets.